New X-Carve feedback

I’m just about ready to pull the trigger and buy my new x carve in the next day or two. What has sold me to buy an X Carve is this great community and finally when you see Zach on the forums asking how people how they like their new X Carve that just shows me how great company Inventables is . I have 2 questions is the side board worth buying. 2 I have the opportunity to get 44" X 44" workbench from a friend cleaning out his garage will the X Carve fit comfortably on that size workbench. Thanks for the feedback and I look forward two participating more in these forums once I get my X carve.

1 Like

Hi @Zach_Kaplan,

I think most here would agree that the upgrades that came with the recent x-carve revision are fantastic and addressed most of the issues that required mods on previous machines. As I’m sure you are aware, there are still items that people are trying to improve. One of the main issues that has been discussed at length is the lack of reliable rigidity on the Z-axis. Due to out of spec v-wheels(possibly even a flawed design), there is a lot of room for movement. I didn’t think that my problem was too bad until I pulled off and checked all of my v-wheels (as well as 20 brand new wheels that I have as replacements) Of those 40 v-wheels that were checked, only 5 of them were tight enough that they didnt have side to side play when they were tightened on a threaded shaft. This play will obviously affect rigidity and therefor the accuracy of the machine. This lack of rigidity is somewhat masked by an increased quantity of v-wheels using multiple bearing surfaces(X and Y axis). The Z Axis is very difficult to achieve reliable accuracy. The “precision” washers are too thick for the ridge in the v-wheel and don’t allow any bearing preload. I did the best I could to measure washers to use as spacers in the v-wheels to get closer to a usable bearing preload. These measured washers often had to be roughly 20% thinner than the precision shims in order to reduce the amount of play to where it was mostly imperceptible by hand.

It seems that one of the best solutions to fixing this problem is to use an aftermarket linear slide and eliminate the V-Wheels altogether. Maybe, for X-Carve V3.0, Inventables ought to look into using a linear slide rather than the V-Wheel setup. That, or the v-wheels ought to be re-engineered or manufactured with tighter tolerances so they provide more reliable results.

Please don’t see this as criticism. Most people have come to realize the limitations of the machine and are fine with the results that they are able to produce.

All in all, its been great to see the improvements that have been made through each of these fantastic iterations. Thanks for making this all possible and for letting us come along for the ride.

1 Like

just my $.02.
I bought the 750 machine fully loaded along with the vectric software.
I settled on the Xcarve after months of research and also reading this forum.
The machine went together in about 8-10 hours over a 2 evening period.
The machine appears to be very sturdy and it looks beautiful.
The fit and finish is second to none.
However:
Easel software is internet based and I do not have internet service at my shop.
Therefore I bought the vectric software along with the machine because I was told that it would indeed run the machine without the need for internet service.

  1. There is no instruction as to how to get the controller to recognize the tool paths that I have generated.
  2. hence the machine is now just setting there not getting used.
  3. there is no explanation or instructions for the 3 white buttons on the front of the controller.
    Am I missing something???
    I’m chomping at the bit to see chips fly.

Let me start by saying Welcome. Now for the disappointment. Vectric software WILL NOT run your X-Carve. It is a very powerful CAD/CAM “Design” program. You will need a sending " Easel, UGS, etc." program to send the Code created.

@JanVanderlinden

Sorry for the confusion. You can use Easel to send but you have to load it with an internet connection. If you have a laptop you could load it before you get in the shop. You don’t need internet to send to the machine. If you don’t want to mess with that there is a free product called Universal G-Code Sender made by a guy in the community named Will Winder. If you click that link and scroll about halfway down the page to the “Stable builds” section you can download the most recent version.

The post processor you want to use would be for Easel or GRBL. Either one will work fine.

This is an installed piece of software. You would then export g-code from vectric and import it into UGS. The buttons are pause, stop, and play. You can use them while the machine is in operation instead of operating it from the computer. They are for convenience if you need to stop or pause the machine fast.

Hi @JeremyHanks thanks for the feedback. I sent a link to your post to the engineering department. I’m not sure if your parts are out of tolerance due to a manufacturing error or if you are running into a limitation of the design.

Have you measured the tolerance on parts that come off the machine? Are they within +/- .003"?

Zach

Install Universal G-Code Sender (UGS) onto your PC, this will act as the sender og g-code to your controller.
like Curtis is saying you need a “sender” to insert g-code from the design platform (Vectric), CAM is short for Computer Aided Machining and is the translation of design shape into g-code.

Design Phase (Vectric, Easel, SketchUp, Fusion 360, Autodesk etc…:slight_smile:
Export Phase (CAM) => into g-code in your case
Import g-code (by file or net access) to Easel / UGS
Execute Phase (actual machining)

Tell me about this command line function. I don’t find it when I search the help section, or wander through the drop downs within Easel. And since I seem to be having issues with Easel, more than the X-Carve itself, where is the place to research Easel?

Sure thing. Go to the machine menu. Click “advanced”. Then click “machine inspector” and this will pop up. It’s like the console on UGS. You can send G-code commands to the machine from there.

Ok,
So now I’m really confused.
I don’t have a clue as to what you are talking about.
You need to realize that I have NEVER had anything to do with CNC before.
I am a wood worker and though this would be something in my retirement.
Maybe I was wrong…

There is a real problem with the spacers used in some of the V-Wheels, There are several posts in the forum where people discussed this. The shim doesn’t allow the duel bearings to seat at the same time. So the Wheel will slide from one bearing to the other. I noticed the issue when changing out bits. I would get the “pop” whenever I snugged it up. Its not really noticeable unless its mounted on the Z. That’s why i went with the linear set up.

Hi @JanVanderlinden sorry I was responding to two different questions in the same thread. Best thing to do would be to give Inventables a call when we open at 9am 312-775-7009 and explain that you don’t have internet in your shop. Someone on our Customer Success team can walk you through it.

There are a handful of tutorials on the Vectric website to show you how to use their software.

and a whole slew of information on Easel can be found here…

https://inventables.desk.com/customer/en/portal/topics/821727-easel-guides/articles

cheers.

OK so maybe I’m starting to comprehend this thing. Comparing it to my 3D printer, the X-Carve seems to be missing the Arduino and associated firmware, correct? Also, I am noticing Z axis travel is not accurate. There was a problem with the Z axis DIP switches for microstepping, that might be it. Is there a firmware way to calibrate X/Y/Z travel?

Is there a way to convert a Corel SVG to gcode?

1 Like

I can export dxf from Corel. I just want to get some of my laser projects from Corel into thicker wood on the X-Carve

1 Like

@Zach_Kaplan

It is likely a combination of both out of spec and limitation of design. The ridge is supposed to be 1.0mm +0/-.080mm.

The “precision” spacer I just measured was 1.08mm and the ridge in the V-wheel was 0.91mm. The washer being oversized and the ridge being undersized leads to slop of .17mm when it should really have slight compression of the bearings. This seemingly small gap translates into pretty dramatic movement when amplified over the length of the part these are trying to control. Theis is usually enough to see the z-axis move when applying hand pressure, let aline the forces applied during operation.

Yes they are out of spec, but even if within spec they are going to have a problem, unless by some chance the washer is slightly undersized and the ridge is machined perfectly at 1.0mm. The likelyhood of that combination is pretty dang slim.

I just tagged him in a post with a video of this.

1 Like

Good morning everyone.
First off kudos and many thanks to John Hayes from the Inventables support team.
After spending numerous phone calls and e-mails, he IS the one that got me up and running. (clearly due to my own lack of knowledge of the CNC world)
I am now up and running and loving every minute of it.
This machine is fantastic and I couldn’t be more happy with it.
My first carves are name plaques for my grand daughters.
I’m very pleased with he results. (have a look)


I still have some issues, but they will be worked out one by one.
(I’m at least making chips)
Sometimes the Z stepper motor makes a loud grinding noise when it goes up.
Almost like its not getting enough power.
Could it be due to the cold weather here in Columbus Oh.?
Any thoughts?

3 Likes

Are you sure the noise is coming from the stepper motor and not the Delrin nut?